2000 Corvette buyer's guide: the hardtop's last year, new wheels, weak spots and 2026 prices

GM’s list is short (kit, PDF pages 9 and 10), and the headline items were forged five-spoke wheels, bigger Z51 bars, active keyless entry and two new colors:

• Wheels. A new forged aluminum five-spoke, painted as standard, with high-polish or magnesium versions at extra cost; the 1999’s was cast (1999 kit). Owners call it the thin-spoke wheel, and GM later told dealers to inspect it (see The weak spots on a 2000). Sizes stayed 17 x 8.5 in front and 18 x 9.5 in rear.
• Z51 bars. Larger stabilizer bars front and rear: 28.6 and 23.6 mm, against 23.0 and 19.1 mm on the standard suspension (GM’s chassis figures). The 1999 Z51 front bar was 25.4 mm; GM’s 1999 rear figure doesn’t square with its word that both bars grew, so it’s left out here.
• Paint and trim. Millennium Yellow (an extra-cost tint coat) and Dark Bowling Green Metallic, coupe and convertible only. Inside, Torch Red replaced Firethorn Red.
• Keys. The active fob reaches up to 100 ft, says the owner’s manual, with two supplied and room for a third.
• Emissions. Revisions, mostly a new engine computer calibration, made a properly equipped 2000 compliant with LEV (low emission vehicle) standards in states requiring California emissions. The rating stayed 345 hp.
• Fuel filler. A new onboard refueling vapor recovery (ORVR) system: a revised filler neck, extra vapor plumbing and a non-vented cap (kit, PDF page 17).

What carried over: the LS1’s output, both gearboxes and their ratios, the axles, the dimensions, the run-flat tires with no spare, ABS and traction control. Active Handling, GM’s stability control system, was optional on every model for the last time; it became standard for 2001.

GM’s kit named the BMW Z3, the Porsche 911 and Boxster and the Mercedes SLK as rivals and claimed that “dollar for dollar, horsepower for horsepower, very few competitors come close” to the Corvette’s value. Marketing copy, but 26 years on, 345 hp at an $18,000 auction median keeps the dollar half honest.

Bowling Green built 33,682 (18,113 coupes, 13,479 convertibles, 2,090 hardtops), and production ended June 26, 2000, per Corvette Action Center’s production page (opens in new tab), the source of every production and option count on this page.

The hardtop. GM’s fixed-roof coupe, which owners call the FRC, has a trunk lid where the coupe has a glass hatch, and a roof that stays on. GM built it as the serious one (kit, PDF page 12): the six-speed, the Z51 suspension and a 3.42 limited-slip axle as standard, black leather only, a fixed radio mast and five colors (Black, Nassau Blue Metallic, Torch Red, Arctic White and Light Pewter Metallic). GM’s feature chart rules out the automatic, the removable roof, Selective Real Time Damping, sport seats, the power passenger seat and the memory package.

GM’s preliminary weights were 3,246 lb coupe, 3,248 lb convertible, 3,173 lb hardtop (specifications). Launching the hardtop’s replacement, GM called the hardtop “already the lightest, stiffest and quickest Corvette.” That replacement, the 2001 Z06, used the same body and came in more than 36 lb lighter, by GM’s figure. A hardtop wearing Z06 badges is still a hardtop: a C5 Z06 has S as its VIN’s eighth character, a 2000 hardtop G.

The coupe is 54 percent of the year: a one-piece removable roof panel, a glass hatch over 24.8 cu ft of cargo space and, as standard, the four-speed automatic, a six-way power driver’s seat and Bose speakers.

The convertible is 40 percent: a manual top with a heated glass rear window, a power antenna, and 13.9 cu ft of trunk with the top up, 11.2 with it down. Two in three tops are black (9,115), then Light Oak (3,762) and white (602).

Every 2000 has the 5.7-liter LS1 V8, 345 hp and 350 lb-ft: 346 cu in, an aluminum block and heads, 10.1:1 compression and a 6,000 rpm redline. The gearbox was a six-speed manual or four-speed automatic, hardtop manual only.

GM’s specification pages and owner’s manual supply the figures, and fueleconomy.gov the EPA ratings. The battery guide covers the C5’s battery and the acid-leak check under its tray.

Six-speed or automatic. Six in ten 2000s left Bowling Green as automatics (20,362), four in ten as six-speeds (13,320). The automatic, the Hydra-Matic 4L60-E, has fluid GM says needs no service for up to 100,000 miles. GM listed the 2.73 axle as the automatic’s standard, yet seven in ten automatics have the 3.15 (14,090 against 6,272), which came with Z51 or on its own as option G90.

Tank and oil. The owner’s manual says 18.5 gallons and 6.5 quarts with a filter change; the kit’s capacities page says 19.1 gallons, and its specification page 6.0 quarts. Go by the manual, as the C5 guide advises. The factory fill was Mobil 1 synthetic, and the oil life system calls for a change at no more than 10,000 miles or 12 months (owner’s manual). GM wants premium, 91 octane or higher, for best performance; regular costs a little acceleration.

0–60 and top speed. GM published no acceleration figure for the 2000. For 1997–1999 cars, with the same engine, ratios and gearboxes, it quoted 0–60 mph in 4.72 seconds with the six-speed, 5.05 with the automatic, and 172 mph. Magazine tests of 1999 hardtops, as Corvette Action Center (opens in new tab) reproduces them, ran 0–60 in 4.7 seconds with 175 mph flat out (Corvette Quarterly, Winter 1998), 4.8 seconds and a 13.3-second quarter mile at 108.6 mph (Motor Trend, 1998–1999), and 5.3 seconds and 13.6 at 107.3 mph (Road & Track, September 1998).

Of course some owners wanted more, and some 2000s went racing. A car with track history needs its wheels, brakes and records read with extra care.

A typical 2000 is well equipped: 95 percent have fog lamps, 87 percent dual-zone air, 80 percent sport seats. The options that change what you’re buying:

The counts are CAC’s, the shares this site’s arithmetic. Three cautions: QF5 isn’t on GM’s RPO list; CAC’s head-up display and telescoping column rows are identical, so one may be a copy; and CAC codes Z51 on only 366 hardtops, though GM made it standard on all of them (the hardtop’s package is Z19).

Z51 against F45. Z51 is GM’s handling package: the bigger bars, stiffer springs, larger monotube shocks and, on an automatic, the 3.15 axle. F45, Selective Real Time Damping, adjusts the shocks with Tour, Sport and Performance settings; it wasn’t offered on the hardtop.

Prices. No GM price list for the 2000 turned up. Hagerty’s valuation pages give a manufacturer’s price of $39,280 for the coupe and $45,705 for the convertible, without saying whether destination is in. GM’s own coupe prices sit either side: $39,171 for a 1999 and $40,475 for a 2001, both with destination. GM’s 2001 price list gives the options that matter most here: Z51 $350, F45 $1,695, the six-speed $815, magnesium wheels $2,000.

The names are GM’s (CAC says “Bright Silver Metallic” and “Bright Blue”), and CAC records one export car in Platinum Power Purple. The kit’s RPO list leaves out the two new colors and the Torch Red interior, so go by the car’s own label, not that list.

Interiors. Black in 61.5 percent of cars, Light Oak 25.8, Light Gray (CAC’s “Pewter”) 9.3 and the new Torch Red 3.5 (1,164 cars). Every hardtop is black inside.

The 2000 has two GM recalls, the column lock among them, and on October 18, 2026, NHTSA’s file (opens in new tab) held 277 owner complaints against it. Beside the years either side:

The themes are this site’s approximate keyword counts, and the rates match the years-to-avoid guide. Complaints are voluntary and publicity brings them in: 78 of the 2000’s arrived in 2003 and 2004, while NHTSA investigated the column lock and GM recalled it. The table ranks the three years; it doesn’t measure how often a part fails.

The recalls. 04V060000 (2004) is the column lock, covered in The weak spots on a 2000. 00V111000 (2000) fixed lap belt webbing that could twist and jam in the retractor on 71,569 cars from 1997 to 2000, with inserts fitted to each retractor’s web guide; a July 2000 complaint cites it on a 2000. A Chevrolet dealer can run the VIN for anything still open.

GM’s bulletins. NHTSA’s files hold 359 GM communications naming the 2000 Corvette. Four name the 2000 alone:

1. 99076 (November 1999): the accessory drive belt’s tensioner pulley can fail, taking out the power steering pump, water pump and generator, with a check engine lamp on.
2. 000310001 (February 2000): repeated low tire pressure warnings for one wheel position on early-build cars.
3. 000842002 (June 2000): the left headlamp door staying closed after the lamps are switched off.
4. 000844006 (June 2000): a power antenna that doesn’t work, which this site reads as a convertible item, since only the convertible had one.

Others stop at 2000: window motors that growl and fail (000864004, 1998–2000), the fuel gauge (010604022, 1997–2000) and a creak near the fuel tank (01369, 1999–2000). The ones every C5 shares are on the C5 guide.

The brake module is the year’s real risk

The 2000 keeps the early electronic brake control module (EBCM), the computer behind the ABS and traction control, and it’s the part that can turn a cheap 2000 into an expensive one. Seventeen 2000 complaints name it or its warning lights, against 9 for 1999 and 5 for 2001; nine say the part is discontinued, unavailable or can’t be fixed, the latest (2021) that 1997–2000 modules are no longer made. Owners say the early units generally can’t be rebuilt, and put a used one at over $1,000 in 2021 (CorvetteForum). A SERVICE ABS message also switches off traction control and Active Handling, the owner’s manual says.

One hedge: a rebuilder in a 2014 Corvette Action Center thread took 2000 modules but not a 1999’s. Nearly every other source groups the 2000 with the earlier cars, and in a 2012 CorvetteForum thread, posters steered a shopper to a 2001 or later, the brake module first among their reasons. The ways out if a module dies are in the years-to-avoid guide. Until one does, the ABS and traction lights set the price.

Active Handling, on two thirds of 2000s, has 12 complaints of its own, and one owner told NHTSA in 2013 that GM had discontinued its steering wheel position sensor for 1999–2000 cars. A fault shows as SERVICE ACTIVE HNDLG with a chime (owner’s manual).

The column lock: both gearboxes recalled

The electronic column lock locks the steering when the key comes out, and it’s the 2000’s biggest complaint theme, as on most C5 years: 120 of the 277. NHTSA’s recall record (opens in new tab) describes two failures: a car that can be driven with the column still locked when low voltage defeats the fuel cut-off, and a lock pin that can lock the steering while the car is moving.

Both gearboxes were recalled on a 2000: GM’s bulletin covers 1997–2000 automatics as well as manuals, while US 2001–2004 automatics were never in it. Automatics had the lock plate removed, so the shifter still locks but the column doesn’t; manuals had the engine computer reprogrammed and the plate checked, until a 2006 revision, 04006C, switched US manuals to plate removal too.

Know the two messages (owner’s manual). PULL KEY, WAIT 10 SEC means the lock had trouble engaging, which can happen when the key is pulled and reinserted too quickly: take it out for 10 seconds. Ignore it and drive off, and the fuel shuts off at 1.5 mph. SERVICE COLUMN LOCK means a tow to the dealer. Complaints still describe failures after the recall work, and the full history and the bypass question are on the C5 guide.

First-year wheels, first cracks

The thin-spoke wheel arrived with the 2000, and so did the cracking reputation. GM’s 2007 bulletin 0703100003 tells dealers to inspect 2000–2004 wheels for irregularities at the base of the spokes and replace them if needed. Three 2000 complaints (2006, 2011 and 2012) describe cracks between hub and rim or where a spoke meets the rim, two of them on polished wheels; 2001s have about 15.

Owner reports go back to 2004, when a 2000 coupe at 24,000 miles lost air through a crack in a polished wheel’s face (opens in new tab). Later posters call it a known problem, mostly on rear wheels by one account, and report cracks on the wider-spoke 1997–1999 wheel less often. Check the base of every spoke and the inside of each rim. Wheel nuts go on at 100 lb-ft (140 N·m), per the manual.

Headlight motors: metal or plastic

The 2000 is a year of two halves under the headlight doors. An owner’s rebuild guide puts metal motor housings on 1997 to early 2000 cars and plastic ones on late 2000 to 2004 cars, with different rebuild kits (opens in new tab), and housings can be swapped, so look before ordering parts. Grinding at full travel means a stripped gear; the fix is on the C5 guide.

Fuel smell and the fuel gauge

Nine 2000 complaints describe a fuel leak or smell, several around filling, and NHTSA’s files show no GM campaign for it on a 2000. The 2000 is the first year of the ORVR filler neck, cap and vapor plumbing, so that’s where this guide would look first on a car that smells at the pump: a judgment call, not a GM finding. The gauge has nine complaints and GM bulletin 010604022; the cheap fix owners use is on the C5 guide.

The smaller items

• F45 shocks. SERVICE RIDE CONTROL means a fault, and SHOCKS INOPERATIVE with MAXIMUM SPEED 80 MPH means the shocks have failed to full soft (owner’s manual).
• Tire pressure sensors. One in each wheel, with batteries GM designed to last 10 years, so any original is far past its design life. No liquid sealants, GM says.
• The generation’s items: the harmonic balancer, seats, water leaks and clutch fluid, all on the C5 guide.

The VIN. GM’s VIN chart reads 1G1YY, then the body (1 hardtop, 2 coupe, 3 convertible), 2 for the restraints, G for the LS1, a check digit, the year, 5 for Bowling Green and a six-digit sequence, which Corvette Action Center’s 2000 VIN page ends at 133682. The year letter is Y. The chart misprints it as X, 1999’s letter; GM’s own VIN derivative page and every 2000 VIN in NHTSA’s file say Y.

Labels and stamps. The Service Parts Identification label inside the glovebox lists the VIN, paint and every RPO code (owner’s manual), and the certification label on the driver’s door edge gives the build month. Engine and transmission carry a VIN derivative (1Y5 and the sequence) that should match the car; the engine’s is at the rear of the left cylinder head or the front of the left oil pan rail (kit, PDF pages 29 to 37).

What the label proves. Z51 shows as Z51, and CAC counts FE3, the sport suspension code, on exactly as many coupes and convertibles as Z51. G90 alone proves nothing: 14,090 automatics had the 3.15 axle, against 7,775 Z51 cars in all. A hardtop has 1 in the VIN’s sixth place and Z19 on the label.

Against a 1999. The forged thin-spoke wheels (unless swapped), no passenger door keyhole, the active fob, Millennium Yellow or Dark Bowling Green paint, a Torch Red interior.

Against a 2001. GM’s 2001 overview (opens in new tab) lists what a 2000 lacks: second-generation Active Handling as standard, an alternator clutch pulley for a lower idle on automatics, better sound insulation, a new convertible top, chrome-flashed exhaust tips, a slimmer key fob, an AGM battery and the Z06. The LS1 went to 350 hp, with 375 lb-ft on manuals and 360 on automatics. Speedway White replaced Arctic White and Quicksilver replaced Sebring Silver, so either old color, plain tips or the bigger fob points to 2000 or earlier; the Y in the VIN settles it.

1. ABS and traction lights, out after start-up and after a proper drive. Lit, and the price has to cover a module.
2. Recall proof by VIN for the column lock and the lap belts.
3. The column lock. Start and stop the car several times, taking the key fully out each time. Ask what was done and who fitted any bypass.
4. Every wheel, at the base of each spoke and around the inside of the rim.
5. The headlights, up and down several times, and whether the motors are metal or plastic.
6. Dash messages during the drive: SERVICE ACTIVE HNDLG, SERVICE RIDE CONTROL, low tire pressure, a check engine lamp.
7. Fuel. A gauge that behaves, and a sniff around the filler after a fill-up.
8. The accessory belt and tensioner pulley, for noise and wobble.
9. The glovebox label: Z51, F45, JL4 and the paint code as advertised, and on a hardtop Z19 and the 1 in the VIN.
10. The build month on the door label, which should fit the car’s history.
11. Tires. Run-flats with no spare and no jack, or ordinary tires and a plan for a flat.
12. A C5 specialist’s inspection and a close read of the records, closer still on a car with track stickers. The C5 guide has the full list.

From January 1 to October 18, 2026, Bring a Trailer (opens in new tab) listed 11 stock 2000s, and 9 sold for $11,888 to $35,000, a median of $18,000 by this site’s count. Stock means the listing title doesn’t call the car modified: a Lingenfelter-modified coupe ($25,750), a car titled as a track car and a C1-style rebody ($70,000) are left out.

In the same window, four 1999s sold for a median $24,000 and seven 2001s, six of them convertibles, for $20,000. The 2000’s median is low because of its cheap convertibles; its hardtops and low-mile coupes sold close to the 1999s. Nine sales won’t settle much, and the cars that reach an auction like this tend to be the clean, low-mile ones.

Hagerty’s valuation tool (opens in new tab), archived on February 7, 2026, valued a six-speed 2000 in #3 (Good) condition at $16,400 coupe, $17,600 convertible, $17,200 hardtop, the same as a 1999, and took 10 percent off for an automatic; a 2001 was $17,000 coupe and $18,600 convertible. classic.com’s 2000 page wouldn’t load for this guide (its February 2026 average for every base C5 year, $20,042, is in the C5 vs C6 guide), and CorvetteForum’s editors put higher-mile 1997–2000 automatics at $15,000–$22,000 in 2026. Those are past sales and valuations; none of them says where prices go next.

Buy the hardtop. It’s what a 2000 offers that a 2001 can’t: one of 2,090, every one a six-speed with Z51 and a 3.42 limited-slip axle, the lightest C5 GM sold that year and the body the Z06 grew from. Three sold on Bring a Trailer in 2026, for $18,000 to $26,000. Buy one with the ABS and traction lights dark, the column lock paperwork in the folder and every spoke checked, and take the black leather and the roof that stays on as part of the deal.

For a coupe, let the money decide. A six-speed with a healthy brake module is the C5 guide’s budget path, and Z51 makes it a better one. But a 2001 has more power, standard Active Handling and a module that can usually be rebuilt, and Hagerty valued a 2001 coupe just $600 above a 2000 in early 2026. At the same price, buy the 2001; buy the 2000 when it’s the better car, or cheaper by enough to cover a module.

The cheapest way in is a convertible: four sold for $11,888 to $14,600. Check the lights, the lock and the top, and the money saved buys tires and a balancer.

Five of the nine 2000s that sold on Bring a Trailer in 2026 went for $18,000 or less, and every one was America’s sports car with an aluminum 345 hp V8 under that long hood. Pick one with dark warning lights and a thick folder, because a cheap 2000 only stays cheap while its brake module works. The best Corvette years guide shows where the 2000 sits among every generation, and the C5 vs C6 guide what the next step up costs.